EMPOWER
Virtual Summit
Topic #1
Stop Telling Those You Lead to Be Confident - Give Them Tools Instead
with Tami Matheny | Mental game coaching to give coaches & athletes an edge
Topic #2
Think Different-Preparing Today's Youth to Stand Out
with Christopher Mahan | Suicide Prevention and Wellness Speaker
Topic 3
Ignite the Next Generation: Driving a Positive Bus
with Julie Prangley | Leadership, Employee Engagement
Topic #4
Invisibility Interrupters-Dare to Hold the Door
with Lisa Costa | Certified Ziglar Master Coach
Topic 5
Success Through Being, Knowing, Doing
with Festus Amoye | LYS CEO & Founder
Meet Your Host
Tami Matheny
Helping athletes, parents, and coaches build confidence, resilience, and mental strength.
Christopher Mahan
He has helped hundreds of young people secure internships, employment opportunities, and pathways toward long-term success.
Julie Prangley
Brings a relatable, engaging, and actionable approach that helps adults guide the next generation toward greater responsibility, resilience, and success.
Lisa Costa
Her guiding philosophy is simple: leave people better than you found them and never stop fighting for the highest possible good of those you serve.
Festus Amoye
Create and empower a new approach for teachers' lesson planning. Seamlessly integrating life skills, soft skills, and mentoring into standards-based curriculum.
Tami Matheny
Stop Telling Those You Lead to Be Confident
- Give Them Tools Instead
Tami Matheny challenges one of the most common—and least useful—messages adults give young people: “Just be confident.” In this thought-provoking presentation, she shows why confidence must be taught, practiced, and strengthened over time. Through four practical, interactive activities, parents, educators, coaches, and mentors will learn how to help youth build lasting confidence rooted in identity, purpose, and daily action rather than temporary performance.
Tami Matheny challenges one of the most common—and least useful—messages adults give young people: “Just be confident.”
In this thought-provoking presentation, she shows why confidence must be taught, practiced, and strengthened over time. Through four practical, interactive activities, parents, educators, coaches, and mentors will learn how to help youth build lasting confidence rooted in identity, purpose, and daily action rather than temporary performance.
Tami Matheny is a mental game coach, author, Jon Gordon Certified Trainer, and founder of Refuse2LoseCoaching, LLC. Since 2008, she has helped athletes, leaders, teams, and individuals strengthen confidence, focus, motivation, mental toughness, leadership, and teamwork. She is certified to deliver workshops on The Power of Positive Leadership and The Power of Positive Teams.
Tami has worked with collegiate, high school, recreational, and post-collegiate athletes across numerous sports, including basketball, tennis, soccer, softball, baseball, volleyball, golf, field hockey, cross country, running, and weightlifting. Her work focuses on the powerful role mindset and other intangibles play in performance, career success, and long-term growth.
A Hall of Fame athlete and salutatorian at East Rutherford High School, Tami competed in basketball and tennis at Lenoir-Rhyne College while earning a psychology degree. She later earned a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of North Carolina. An accomplished endurance athlete, Tami has completed the Boston Marathon, ultramarathons, and cycling events exceeding 80 miles.
Her own struggle with confidence inspired years of research and ultimately shaped her life’s work.
Christopher s. Mahan
Think Different-Preparing Today's Youth to Stand Out
Christopher S. Mahan challenges the negative stereotypes often placed on today’s youth and shows how mindset can change everything. Through his EPP framework—Effort, Passion, and Purpose—he helps young people overcome fear, strengthen intrinsic motivation, and prepare for success in both life and work. This inspiring presentation equips parents, educators, coaches, and mentors to help youth build confidence, character, and the determination to stand out for the right reasons.
Christopher S. Mahan is a youth empowerment speaker, author, workforce development specialist, and host of the Lead Your Teen podcast.
After a successful 25-year career in the film, television, and marketing industries, Chris made a life-changing decision to dedicate his work to helping young people and families navigate the challenges of adolescence, career development, and adulthood.
Since 2013, Christopher has worked with more than 1,000 youth and young adults ages 14–24, providing over 6,500 hours of career readiness, leadership development, self-advocacy, and life skills training. Through his work with schools, workforce programs, vocational rehabilitation services, and community organizations, he has helped hundreds of young people secure internships, employment opportunities, and pathways toward long-term success.
Christopher is the author of Parental Leadership: 7 Principles to Lead Your Teen in the Digital Age, a guide that empowers parents to become stronger leaders and advocates for their children. His work focuses on helping families, educators, and community leaders equip young people with the skills, mindset, and confidence needed to thrive in today's rapidly changing world.
Drawing from his own journey of overcoming academic challenges, career setbacks, and personal reinvention, Christopher delivers engaging, practical, and inspiring presentations that challenge young people to embrace responsibility, discover their purpose, and take action toward their goals. His message is rooted in a simple belief: every young person has untapped potential waiting to be discovered, developed, and encouraged.
As Christopher often says, "Parental leadership isn't about showing your children how strong you are. It's about showing them how strong they are."
Julie Prangley
Ignite the Next Generation: Driving a Positive Bus
Julie Prangley brings the principles of Jon Gordon’s best-selling book The Energy Bus to life for parents, coaches, and educators who want to positively influence young people. As a Certified Jon Gordon Speaker and Trainer, she shares practical ways to create environments where teens and young adults can build confidence, resilience, accountability, and purpose. This uplifting presentation shows how one positive interaction can help change the direction of a young person’s life.
Julie Prangley is a leadership and mindset speaker, trainer, and coach who helps people unlock their potential, strengthen their confidence, and lead with greater purpose.
With more than 25 years of experience in leadership development, organizational change, team building, and coaching, she has dedicated her career to helping individuals and organizations create environments where people can grow and thrive.
As a certified speaker and trainer, Julie equips parents, educators, coaches, and leaders with practical strategies to inspire growth, encourage responsibility, and build cultures of trust and accountability. She believes strong leadership is not simply about demanding better results. It is about creating the encouragement, clarity, and high expectations that help others recognize what they are capable of becoming.
Drawing from decades of leadership experience and a deep passion for personal development, Julie brings a relatable, engaging, and practical approach to every audience. Her work helps adults better guide and influence the next generation while also strengthening their own leadership habits.
Through her speaking, training, and coaching, Julie empowers people to lead intentionally, build meaningful connections, and help young people develop the resilience, responsibility, and confidence needed to succeed.
Lisa Costa
Invisibility Interrupters-Dare to Hold the Door
Lisa Costa reminds us that one of the greatest gifts we can give young people is the simple assurance that they are seen. In a world filled with people who feel invisible, she shows how small acts of attention, kindness, and presence can create lasting impact. This heartfelt presentation challenges adults to slow down, notice more, and meet the next generation’s deepest human need—the need to matter.
Lisa Costa is a keynote speaker, author, leadership coach, and educator who helps people move from success to significance.
As the author of *Serve: The Currency of Significance*, host of the *Shift School with Lisa Costa* podcast, and a Ziglar Master Coach, Lisa has spent more than 20 years helping leaders discover that their greatest impact comes through serving others.
A doctoral candidate at Idaho State University and a 2020 FCCLA Hall of Fame inductee, Lisa combines decades of leadership experience with simple, powerful, and proven tools that help people turn intention into action, potential into purpose, and success into significance.
Through her signature keynote, *Dare to Hold the Door*, Lisa challenges audiences to think differently about leadership, influence, and legacy. Her guiding philosophy is simple: leave people better than you found them and never stop fighting for the highest possible good of those you serve.
Whether speaking to educators, business professionals, nonprofit leaders, or emerging leaders, Lisa equips audiences to lead with greater purpose, serve with intention, and build a legacy that reaches far beyond themselves.
Festus Amoye
Success Through Being, Knowing, Doing
Festus Amoye shares a powerful story of loss, hardship, and perseverance to show students that hope can be rebuilt. After losing both parents as a teenager and facing serious financial struggles, he discovered how character and resilience can shape a new future. Through his “Being, Knowing, Doing” framework, Festus helps young people move beyond apathy, define their own path, and take meaningful steps toward lasting success.
Festus is the second generation Nigerian American minority and non-traditional student graduate. That has assisted over 15 students to enroll in college and earn scholarships and loan repayment programs totaling over $750,000.
He also earned nearly $87,000 in scholarships for his own educational endeavors; this led to him writing his first book and founding the educational technology company titled Laddering Your Success. He has been blessed to marry Lakesha Amoye and have 2 rambunctious boys. His other achievements include Phi Theta Kappa member alum, Alpha Chi member alum, National Society of Collegiate Scholars alum, Army Veteran (10 years)
Completed my bachelor's degree (less than 35% of black males do) at HBU. Authored Laddering Your Success my first book turned edtech startup. Founded a educational technology company called Laddering Your Success that offers a proven path to success for anyone looking for a better tomorrow. We give practical and under-discussed strategies to remove roadblocks, define success, and build a foundation for growth. We help students successfully prepare for life, college or a career after high school by partnering with schools, parents, community organizations and teachers by creating technology that fosters relationships.
And launched the LYS Classroom app September 2021 - that will game change, create and empower a new approach for teachers' lesson planning - by seamlessly integrating life skills, soft skills, and mentoring into standards-based curriculum.
